Current Affairs 30th October 2018

Current Affairs 30th October 2018 - Important Points

• SBI to issue and encash electoral bonds soon by - The Government of India 
• Arunachal Pradesh, British Council sign MoU for cultural, educational cooperation on - 27th October 2018
• Far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Brazil’s Presidential election on - 28th October 2018
• Supreme Court prohibits plying of 15-year-old petrol, 10-year-old diesel vehicles in Delhi-NCR on - 29th October 2018
• India, Qatar establish joint commission to strengthen bilateral ties on - 29th October 2018

Current Affairs 30th October 2018 - Details

SBI to issue and encash electoral bonds soon by - The Government of India 

The Government of India has informed the sale of electoral bond through State Bank od India via its 29 approved branches from 1/11/2018 to 10/11/2018. These State Bank of India branches are in cities including New Delhi, Gandhinagar, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Mumbai, Jaipur, Lucknow, Chennai, Kolkata and Guwahati. The idea of electoral bond was started in Union Budget 2017. Later on, Electoral bond scheme 2018 was announced.
More about Electoral Bond

• An Electoral Bond is just similar to a promissory note that will be payable to carrier on demand and
  without any interest.
• It can be bought by an inhabitant of India or anyone incorporated in India.
  Advantages of an Electoral bond
• It will enhance transparent political funding.
• It will as protect donors from any harassment.
• It will have no disclosure of information to third parties.
• It will enhance achieving Digital India vision.
• It will facilitate bringing donations under tax preview.
  Electoral Bonds Scheme 2018
• The scheme presented that a party recorded under the Representation of People’s act, 1951 and
  securing not less than 1% of the votes polled in the preceding election is eligible to get the electoral
  bonds.
• Electoral Bonds may be bought by only inhabitants of India.
• These bonds can only be encashed by an entitled political party only via a bank account with the approved bank. Electoral Bonds are valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue.
• If the Electoral Bond is deposited after validity expiry, no payment is transacted to any Political Party.
• The Electoral Bond dropped by an eligible Political Party in its account is transferred on the same day. 
• The bonds are dispensed in multiples of 1000, 10000, One lakh, Ten lakh, One crore. The cash donation has been capped at Rupee 2000 and beyond that donations are via electoral bonds.

Arunachal Pradesh, British Council sign MoU for cultural, educational cooperation on - 27th October 2018

The state government of Arunachal Pradesh on October 27th, 2018 inked a MoU with the British Council to fortify educational and cultural assistance, in order to support the knowledge ambitions and economic growth of the state.
The MoU goals to improve the prospects for the youth of Arunachal Pradesh and link them to international proficiency and ideas. It was inked by Tayek Talom, Director of Higher and Technical Education of Arunachal Pradesh and Alan Gemmell, Director of British Council India, on the side-lines of the Tawang Festival. Arunachal Pradesh CM Pema Khandu also witnessed the occasion.
Important Provisions

• According to the necessities of the Memorandum of Understanding, as many as 50 faculty associates from government higher education institutions will be skilled by the British Council yearly, begining from December 2018.
• Among these, 30 faculty associates will be from government colleges, Ten from governmental polytechnic institutes, 8 from central institutions recognized in Arunachal Pradesh and Two from officers of the higher education administration.
• Besides this, 50 students of higher and technical education associations will be skilled by the British Council in English language skills every year.
• The MoU will also work for educating English communication of Arunachal Pradesh’s civil servants.
• It will also benefit developing capacity-building initiatives in the Arunachal Pradesh and backing developments in the teaching mathematics and science and capacity-building programs for faculty and senior administrators of higher education institutions.

Far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro wins Brazil’s Presidential election on - 28th October 2018

Far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro was announced as the Brazil’s 2018 Presidential Elections winner on October 28th, 2018 with a great margin. Bolsonaro swept the election results with 55.1% of the votes casted, against 44.8% votes of his opponent, Fernando Haddad from the left-wing Workers' Party.
Jair Bolsonaro had also secured the 1st round of the elections in October among a field of Thirteen candidates, but he had fallen short of the 50% required to win and sidestep a runoff against Haddad. The clear victory of Bolsonaro now enlighten a rightward swing in the largest democracy of Latin America, which was administered by the left-wing party for past Thirteen years between 2003-2016.
More about Nothim Campaign

• Bolsonaro’s augmented visibility encouraged a social media backlash called as #elenao, or #nothim, which got support throughout the nation as well as internationally.
• The right-winger was also compared to United States President Donald Trump and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, because of his misogynistic, racist and homophobic comments.
• Many named the presidential campaign of both Bolsonaro and Haddad as tremendously aggressive and division.
• Bolsonaro had campaigned on an ability to eliminate corruption and to drive down Brazil's increased crime levels. He will be sworn into his new position on January 1st, 2019.
  More about Jair Bolsonaro
• 63 years old Jair Bolsonaro, is a retired army officer and member of the Social Liberal Party, that syndicates social conservatism and pro-market policies.
• Casting himself as a political outsider, Bolsonaro contended a campaign characterised by violent talk and far-right posts.
• He has in the earlier defended the killing of opponents to the nation's past military regime and said he is in favour of dictatorship 2 years ago he remarked that the dictatorship's mistake was ‘to torture and not kill’ leftist rebels, and during his campaign he sworn to send opponents ‘into prison’.

Supreme Court prohibits plying of 15-year-old petrol, 10-year-old diesel vehicles in Delhi-NCR on - 29th October 2018

The Supreme Court on 29th October  2018 banned operating 15 years old petrol and 10 years old diesel motor vehicles in the Delhi-National Capital Region in an initiative to tackle the prevailing very critical and horrible pollution situation in Delhi- National Capital Region.
A bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta also simplified that these over aged petrol and diesel vehicles would be held, if found on roads in Delhi- National Capital Region.
The ruling

• The Supreme court instructed that a list of 15 years old petrol and 10 years old diesel vehicles will be issued on the website of the Central Pollution Control Board and transport departments of the National Capital Region area.
• The bench instructed the Central Pollution Control Board to instantly create a social media account on which residents could lodge their complaint about pollution straight, which will be acted upon by the task force accountable for implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan.
• It said a "meaningful advertisement shall be printed in a local newspaper for convenience of the owners of such vehicles.
• It allowable the court-mandated Environment Pollution Control Authority to accept preventive measures under the Graded Response Action Plan without stringent adherence to pollution stages defined in the plan.
• The Transport Departments of National Capital Region will instantly publicize that all the diesel vehicles above 10 years and petrol vehicles above 15 years shall not operate in National Capital Region in terms of the order of the National Green Tribunal dated April 7th, 2015 that was challenged in the court and the civil appeal was terminated.
  Graded Response Action Plan
• The Graded Response Action Plan is focused at undertaking air pollution in Delhi- National Capital Region and contiguous areas and it is designed to take imperative corrective action, when air quality deteriorates.
• This Plan envisions to roll out a host of emergency measures like the closure of power units and schools. It also issues advisories asking people to avoid polluted areas and restrict outdoor movement.

India, Qatar establish joint commission to strengthen bilateral ties on - 29th October 2018

India and Qatar on 29th October  2018 recognized a joint commission to review all bilateral issues, as well as regional and global matters of mutual interest. A joint statement was released to this effect. The decision was granted after a meeting between Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Qatari Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, during former's visit to Qatar.
Both the sides held comprehensive talks on bilateral ties and regional and international matters during the meeting.
Important Points 

• India and Qatar have finalised to start a joint commission to reinforce the ties among the two nations in numerous fields with a view to further the common interests of their people.
• The commission will be charged with the following tasks:

1.Formulating the obligatory basis to fortify the ties among the two nations particularly in economic, commercial, cultural, scientific, technological, information technology and educational fields.
2.Follow-up the execution of the treaties concluded among the two nations.
3.Finding appropriate solutions for the resulting issues of the implementation.
4.Smoothing the exchange of data and proficiency and encouraging bilateral consultation in service of
assistance among the two nations.

The commission will be co-chaired by the Ministers of External Affairs and Foreign Affairs of the both nations or their representatives and may consist representatives of the sectors related with bilateral assistance in both the nations.